Twilight sat up from her research notes, a quill in her telekinesis and a stack of crumpled papers at her hooves. She glanced over the latest prompt of study from the Princess' desk with tired eyes. Her latest assignment, A Study of Balloons and Their Inflation Properties, was completed, and the studious mare wanted to make sure every last letter was perfect for submission to the Princess. She had pondered the relevance of this study to her friendship reports, but quickly dismissed those thoughts in favor of research.
"Add a few coefficients into the equation and.." Twilight whispered to herself, scribbling furiously on her current sheet of parchment. "Done!" Twilight smirked. She had figured out a spell to test the properties of balloons and their inflation limits.
"Spike! Can you come help me with something real quick?" Twilight called up to her assistant, who was tail-deep in the latest Power Ponies comic.
"Aw! I just reached a good part too!" Spike grumbled, having just reached the climax of the story. "I'll be right there, Twilight." He stumbled down the stairs, his legs prickling with the sensations of blood flow returning to them after sitting all day.
"It'll just be for a minute, Spike, I Pinkie Promise." came Twilight's reply from his right.
"Okay, okay, fine. What do you need?" Spike looked up, expecting to write a letter to the Princess, and was met with the sight of dozens of balloons floating over Twilight's head. Each one was inflated to different levels, and some were entirely empty. "Woah! Can I have one?" Spike tried to reach for the strings holding them afloat, but missed as Twilight yanked them away.
"After my test, Spike, yes. I just need you to hold these for a few seconds while I cast the inflation spell Celestia sent me." Twilight hoofed over the balloons' strings and pointed to a corner of the room. "Wait over there and hold still. This is important to the Princess, I can't let her down!" Spike obliged, trodding over to the corner, balloons in tow.
"Like this, Twi'?" Spike asked, looking up to confirm his positioning.
"Perfect." Twilight fired up her horn, closing her eyes as she imagined the spell weaving together in her mind's eye. A beam of purplish light shot out and encased the balloon bunch in its path, its influence washing over Spike as well.
"Uh...Twilight? I don't feel so good..." Spike mumbled, his voice sounding slightly squeakier. He poked at his belly, expecting to feel a hard resistance from his scales, and was met with a squishy surface, not unlike rubber. "Twilight? Stop the spell!" Spike called out frantically, his scales taking on a sheen as they converted to rubber. He could feel his insides churning, his stomach fighting to purge the foreign plastic invasion taking over his insides. He panicked as he felt himself get much lighter. "TWILIGHT!" Spike tried to yell, but all that came out was a series of squeaks, his vocal chords having become plastic. 'Oh no, oh no, oh no!' Spike thought as his eyesight grew dimmer and his limbs became stiff. He blinked once more before his eyes glossed over, becoming rubber, like the rest of his body. His mind felt fuzzy, and he had a hard time concentrating with all the air filling him up.
Twilight finished her spell, the light dimming and her conscience returning to her. She blinked away the spots in her eyes as she took a moment to admire her spell. The balloons were slowly inflating, filling with air as the rubber stretched further and further. She could not see Spike in front of her however, and began to panic. "Spike? SPIKE! Where are you?" Twilight called out into the silence. A faint squeaking noise could be heard as the balloons inflated more and more. Twilight drew her gaze upward and froze. Above her, floating near the ceiling, was a balloon in the shape of a small purple dragon. "SPIKE! Oh no! I'm sorry!" Twilight spoke to the balloon floating before her, its seams stretching as it expanded. The dragon's eyes were glossy and empty of emotion, and Twilight feared the worst.
Twilight ran around the room, frantically searching for her counter-spell notes and flipping pages past faster than Dash in a rainboom. 'I promise I'll fix you Spike, I really do!' she found herself thinking. "Ohh where is it?" Twilight glanced down at her last notes page and blanched.
As the spell is not intended to create any negative side-effects, a counter spell has not been devised at this time.
She had written that? She, Twilight Sparkle, the epitome of preparation, had foregone a counter spell? How could she have been so foolish? She sat down, a defeated look in her eyes, as the balloons began to reach their breaking point.
'I hope...What is hope..? What am I?' the former dragon thought as he approached the limits of his plastic skin. 'I'm...I was...a dragon...what's a dragon?' Spike wondered as his mind dimmed, the spell's inflation threatening to erase his existence with a squeaky vengeance.
"I'm...I'm sorry Spike!" Twilight cried, tears streaming down her face. She lit her horn and fired every counter she knew at the dragon-turned-balloon, but nothing brought the life back to her number one assistant's eyes. Spell after spell fired off, the Spike-balloon inflating more and more. His eyes had become the size of apples, and his seams started to whistle as air escaped slowly. An ear-wrenching squeak filled the air as Spike reached critical fill. Twilight let her horn dampen as she slumped to the ground, tears staining the rug beneath her shaking form. "I...I failed!" Twilight cried aloud, unable to watch as a deafening boom filled the room, followed by a brief rain of purple plastic shreds. Twilight glanced up to see Spike's form gone from her peripherals, and a glossy black eye laying on her snout. "SPI-I-I-KEEE! NO!" Twilight slammed a hoof into the floor, denting the wood slightly. "NO! NO! NO! It's ALL my fault!" Twilight sobbed, her coat wet below her head, a small puddle of tears forming on the rug. "If I hadn't asked you to help me...you would have never popped on me! I'm a terrible friend...and...and...and now I've destroyed my own best friend!" Twilight's wailing had covered her awareness to the magic surging through her horn.
Twilight's eyes blanked white as she was overcome with a magical surge induced by the sudden grief of losing Spike. Her magic flared and erupted outward, spreading through the walls of the Library and throughout the whole town. Ponies were going about their daily lives as normal when the bright purple light blinded them all. The town's population stumbled around blindly as they fought the temporary blindness brought on by Twilight's surge. Some ponies complained of feeling lightheaded, where others blacked out entirely. Coming to, most of them shook their heads and went on with their business, attributing the flash to the daily Sparkle Incident, as some called it. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were among those in the market square when the surge erupted through town.
"Ah reckon that came from Twi's place! C'mon Pinks, let's go make sure Twilight's okay!" Applejack dropped the apple she was hoofing over to a buyer as she galloped toward the Golden Oaks Library, Pinkie in hot pursuit.
"Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie said, her tail beginning to twitch. "Look out, 'Jackie! Twitchy tail for rain or hail!" Pinkie giggled as she took out her umbrella hat and glanced upwards.
"Ah don't see any-" Applejack was cut off by a cyan missile pinning her to the ground. "Consarnit, Rainbow! Watch where yer flyin'!" Applejack huffed, then noticed Rainbow wasn't moving. "Uh...sugarcube? Time to get up.." Applejack reached a hoof out to Rainbow, but stopped as she noticed the mare's wings were unmoving as well, bound to her sides by what appeared to be stitching. "Dash! Who did this to ya?" Applejack was rather irked, feeling the cause was a certain unicorn they were on the way to visiting.
"Apple-*squeak*-Help m-*squeak*" came the reply from the face-down pegasus.
"Whassa matter, Dash, got soap in yer mouth?" Applejack chuckled for a second, before noticing Rainbow was crying. If there was one thing for certain, it was that Rainbow Dash never cried in front of her friends. Something was terribly wrong.
"My wings! *squeak*-I can't m-*squeak*!" Dash fumbled with her words as her tongue and throat were transformed into soft rubber, her vocal chords following, silencing the mare for good. Dash looked up at Applejack with resignation in her eyes, accepting her imminent fate. Dash was slowly growing in size now, Applejack noticed, her eyes bulging out as they glossed over, sealing the flier in a prison of rubber.
Applejack lifted Rainbow up with her forehoof, barely needing any effort to lift the mare-turned-balloon. She wrapped a rope around Dash's tail, turned to Pinkie, who was staring back at her with an open jaw and tears streaming down her face, and began to pick up her pace towards the library. "C'mon Pinkie! We have to find Twilight! Ah'm certain this has something to do with her!" Applejack galloped off, but only heard her own hoofsteps. Turning slowly, she stopped and gaped at the party pony with wide eyes.
Pinkie had a hoof outstretched toward Applejack, a faint squeak noise emanating from her throat as her body's limbs seized up. She couldn't speak, her breathing had stopped, an empty feeling filling her chest as her insides disappeared into her rubber form. Pinkie's tears had frozen on her face, small plastic beads affixed under her eyes, which were slowly losing their color. Her heart beat quicker and quicker, stopping altogether as she made the transition to balloon. Pinkie Pie was no more.
Applejack felt tears running down her face. Her chest felt tight, as though somepony were twisting her insides around with reckless abandon. She could see Dash stretching at her seams, the balloon pegasus growing closer to bursting. Pinkie had faded into rubber, becoming a balloon not unlike those that adorned her flank. Applejack feared she was next. All around her, the town was in disarray, ponies screaming and squeaking as they and their loved ones were converted into balloons of themselves. She could see Rarity hugging Sweetie Belle, who was a circular shape from all the air filling her. The older sister cradled the younger as she exploded with a loud bang. Shreds of Sweetie rained down over Rarity as her limbs stiffened and she too began to fill. Fluttershy was holding onto a deflated white shape, namely what was left of Angel, her pet rabbit, as she dropped to the ground, her wings becoming hollow and useless. Tears marred the poor mare's face as she succumbed to the mass-spell, becoming shiny rubber and falling to her side. All around Applejack, the town was expanding and contracting, her sight getting blurry. She felt lightheaded and like she was walking through a pool of molasses as her internal organs slowly stopped functioning. Applejack blinked out the tears in her eyes as another loud burst echoed through the town, a rain of cyan and rainbow shreds falling around her. She only wished she could say goodbye to Apple Bloom and Big Mac and Granny Smi-*squeak*. Her thoughts cut off, her vision disappearing as her eyes glossed over. The last thing she heard was a loud bang from behind her as she faded into the rubber.
Twilight walked through the town, her eyes devoid of emotion, her heart heavy, and surrounded by multicolored shreds of balloon material on all sides. The town was quiet. Not a single pony remained in town, and it was all her fault. If only she hadn't asked Spike to help her or if only she had created a counter spell, if only...
Her hoofsteps echoed off the walls of the buildings, shreds of plastic floating in the wind as the remains of the town's population spread about. Twilight closed her eyes with finality and lit her horn. Summoning a piece of parchment and a quill, she began to write shakily, tears staining the paper as she wrote.
To whomever finds this note,
We're all gone. They were all popped by my mistakes. I took my research too far and now everypony's gone...The spell that caused everything has been erased from existence, like all of my friends and acquaintances...and soon, me. I cannot live with the guilt of causing the exploding of an entire town's worth of ponies, unfairly ripping them from this land before their times...I feel it only fitting that I suffer the same fate as they...
To whomever finds this note, know that I, Twilight Sparkle, failed. I...killed everypony. I surged, and transformed everypony into balloons, and inflated them until they...they...popped. I cannot allow this spell to wreak havoc any more than it already has, and I am the last pony to know of its existence. This is my last project, my final effort to set things right for them...for their souls, for their loved ones. Always remember to hold your friends close to your heart, you never know when they'll leave your side...even if you brought it about...
I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy...everypony in town...I'm sorry, but that doesn't excuse my actions...
I've cast the spell on myself, and my magic is failing me as I write...My limbs are non-responsive, and soon I shall join my friends in the many shreds drifting through this ghost town...I'm sorry, Princess. I'm sorr-
With a final, echoing bang, the town was completely silent, the wind carrying upon its tendrils the shreds of a careless mistake and the final words of the mare who brought the end of her town to fruition.
Author's Note
Whew! I blame Kaidan for this one. He wrote two awesome balloon-TF stories since yesterday, and neither of them touched on the sadder aspect of being trapped as a balloon, and the possibility of being popped. Thus, I came up with this. It's a bit dark for my tastes, but I wanted to try a dark story out. Let me know what you think!
